SINGAPORE – Singapore is well-placed to reap the benefits as nervy investors bail out of Hong Kong amid a wider shake-up among Asia’s traditional financial centres.
The EIU, the research and analysis arm of The Economist Group, believes geopolitical factors will continue to weigh on China and Hong Kong while capital markets in Japan and India will thrive over the next few years. In August 2023, the Hong Kong government established a task force to review the factors affecting stock market liquidity, including the listing regime, market structure and trading mechanism.
Singapore has risen as a financial centre in recent years, boosted by China’s crackdown on Hong Kong. Delistings on the SGX have frequently outnumbered listings in recent years. Only one company listed on the bourse in the first half of 2024, making Singapore the worst-performing IPO market in South-east Asia.
Another was to allow pension and sovereign money to be invested in the market, as seen in Australia or Thailand. While Temasek invests in local companies, GIC, which manages the government’s foreign reserves, only invests internationally.